What is the lesson Australia can draw from the first shots fired in the Dumbest Trade War in U.S. History?

 

On the matter of the U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement (FTA)

The Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) situated in The Executive Office Of The President.

The full text of the Agreement is available here and the Advisory Committee Reports are available here. The latest information regarding significant trade barriers can be found in the 2021 National Trade Estimate Report, see here.

Australia Trade Summary

U.S. goods and services trade with Australia totaled an estimated $77.1 billion in 2022 (latest data available). Exports were $52.1 billion; imports were $25.0 billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Australia was $27.1 billion in 2022.

U.S. goods exports to Australia in 2023 were $33.7 billion, up 10.2 percent ($3.1 billion) from 2022 and up 29 percent from 2013. U.S. goods imports from Australia totaled $16.0 billion in 2023, down 1.3 percent ($216 million) from 2022, but up 72 percent from 2013. U.S. exports to Australia account for 1.6 percent of overall U.S. exports in 2023. The U.S. goods trade surplus with Australia was $17.7 billion in 2023, a 23.2 percent increase ($3.3 billion) over 2022.

U.S. exports of services to Australia were an estimated $21.6 billion in 2022, 30.6 percent ($5.1 billion) more than 2021, and 5 percent greater than 2012 levels. U.S. imports of services from Australia were an estimated $8.8 billion in 2022, 41.4 percent ($2.6 billion) more than 2021, and 20 percent greater than 2012 levels. Leading services exports from the U.S. to Australia were in the financial services, travel, and telecommunications, computer, and information services sectors. The United States has a services trade surplus of an estimated $12.7 billion with Australia in 2022, up 24.1 percent from 2021.

U.S. foreign direct investment (FDI) in Australia (stock) was $173.7 billion in 2022, a 1.6 percent decrease from 2021. U.S. direct investment in Australia is led by nonbank holding companies, mining, and manufacturing.

According to OEC.World:

In October 2024, United States exported $2.49B and imported $1.59B from Australia, resulting in a positive trade balance of $901M. Between October 2023 and October 2024 the exports of United States have decreased by $-432M (-14.8%) from $2.93B to $2.49B, while imports increased by $195M (13.9%) from $1.4B to $1.59B.

On the fifth day of the US 47th Presidency the USTR issued the following statement:

USTR Announces Review of Unfair Foreign Trade Practices

January 24, 2025

WASHINGTON-- The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced today that it will review foreign trade practices to account for those practices which may be unfair to the United States, including those practices that may be unreasonable or discriminatory and that may burden or restrict United States commerce.

This review is conducted pursuant to Sections 2(c) and 3(c) of the Presidential Memorandum "America First Trade Policy" signed on January 20, 2025.

By 1 February 2025, the 12th day of this current presidency, at least the first three of what appears to be cursory reviews of foreign trade practices (allegedly enabled by US International Emergency Economic Powers Act) had been completed and Canada, Mexico and China had received notice of an increase in tariffs across the board on their goods & services entering American territorial boundaries.

NOTE: Previous to this the vast majority of U.S. imports from Canada and Mexico could enter the U.S. duty-free, thanks to the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

From the start date of this new tariff regime on 4 February 2024, these Canadian, Mexican and Chinese goods & services have an estimated combined value at the end of the first 12 months of more than US$1 trillion.

As the actual dollar cost of these tariffs are born predominately by US importers of Canadian, Mexican and Chinese goods/services and businesses are not prohibited from passing 100% of tariff-induced costs onto the consumer, although the impact of these tariffs will be felt in all four national economies it has been calculated that with the initial retaliatory counter tariffs in place US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth will potentially halve in 2025, subsequently significantly impeding America's economic growth.

Now that he has started a trade war with his two largest free trade partners, it appears that Trump wants to temporarily de-escalate tensions and has suspended imposing the new tariffs on Mexico for a month and appears to have spoken with the Canadian prime minister with unspecified results.

There are perhaps lessons here for Australia when Trump announces increased tariffs on Australian exports to the United States.

Hopefully the lesson learnt is that Australia should match any new tariff rates percentage point for percentage point across the board and insist there is no bargaining this position away - either by agreeing to an offer of a smaller increase in US tariffs, by the US excepting certain goods & services from these tariffs or by entering into new or altered agreements on any matter in which Australia and the United States can be thought to have a mutual interest as a condition of an easing or removal of tariffs.  

Repeatedly stating with strong emphasis that under the 2005 Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) the US already shows a trade surplus with Australia that it knows it can bank - and it has been certain of that trade surplus almost without exception for the last 123 years since 1901 when the newly established Commonwealth of Australia was exporting A$6.9 million (7.0% of all exports) to the US and was importing from the US A$11.7 million (13.8% of all imports) in return.

Trump's set the bar high as he begins his punitive Trade War 2.0 with the rest of the world

 

On 1 February 2025 the U.S. White House released a Fact Sheet entitled "Donald J. Trump Imposes Tariffs on Imports from Canada, Mexico and China".

Stripping away 90 per cent of the rhetorical posturing contained therein, the fact sheet stated that:

 

"President Donald J. Trump is implementing a 25% additional tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico and a 10% additional tariff on imports from China. Energy resources from Canada will have a lower 10% tariff."

Going on to assert: 

"Access to the American market is a privilege. The United States has one of the most open economies in the world, and the lowest average tariff rates in the world.

While trade accounts for 67% of Canada’s GDP, 73% of Mexico’s GDP, and 37% of China’s GDP, it accounts for only 24% of U.S. GDP. However, in 2023 the U.S. trade deficit in goods was the world’s largest at over $1 trillion.

Tariffs are a powerful, proven source of leverage for protecting the national interest. President Trump is using the tools at hand and taking decisive action that puts Americans’ safety and our national security first."

That same day in immediate response to these increased US tariffs, the Canadian Government released the following:

News release (excerpt)

"February 1, 2025 - Ottawa, Ontario - Department of Finance Canada

Today, the Honourable Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs, and the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced that the Government of Canada is moving forward with 25 per cent tariffs on $155 billion worth of goods in response to the unjustified and unreasonable tariffs imposed by the United States (U.S.) on Canadian goods.

These countermeasures have one goal: to protect and defend Canada’s interests, consumers, workers, and businesses.

The first phase of our response will include tariffs on $30 billion in goods imported from the U.S., effective February 4, 2025, when the U.S tariffs are applied. The list includes products such as orange juice, peanut butter, wine, spirits, beer, coffee, appliances, apparel, footwear, motorcycles, cosmetics, and pulp and paper. A detailed list of these goods will be made available shortly.

Minister LeBlanc also announced that the government intends to impose tariffs on an additional list of imported U.S. goods worth $125 billion. A full list of these goods will be made available for a 21-day public comment period prior to implementation, and will include products such as passenger vehicles and trucks, including electric vehicles, steel and aluminum products, certain fruits and vegetables, aerospace products, beef, pork, dairy, trucks and buses, recreational vehicles, and recreational boats.

In addition to this initial response, Ministers LeBlanc and Joly reiterated that all options remain on the table as the government considers additional measures, including non-tariff options, should the U.S. continue to apply unjustified tariffs on Canada......"

On 1 February 2025 the Government of Mexico also responded to the new US tariffs by instructing its Secretary of Economy to implement "tariff and non-tariff measures in defense of Mexico's interests" and its President strongly countering the absurd claims in the White House 'fact sheet' with: 

"We categorically reject the White House's slander against the Mexican government of having alliances with criminal organizations, as well as any intention of intervention in our territory.

If such an alliance exists anywhere, it is in the United States armories that sell high-powered weapons to these criminal groups, as demonstrated by the United States Department of Justice itself in January of this year."

As yet, Mexico has not indicated which US goods would be included in retaliatory tariffs. However media reports canvas the possibility of pork, cheese, fresh produce, manufactured steel and aluminium being included.

China's response became known on 2 February 2025.

China Daily, 2 February 2025:

China will file a lawsuit with the World Trade Organization and take necessary countermeasures to safeguard its rights and interests, the Ministry of Commerce said on Sunday after the United States announced it would impose 10 percent additional tariffs on goods from China.

The Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that the unilateral imposition of tariffs by the US seriously violates the rules of the WTO, fails to address US domestic issues, and undermines regular economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

"We urge the US to objectively and rationally view and handle its own fentanyl and other issues, rather than resorting to tariff threats against other countries," the commerce ministry said in a statement.

China urges the US to correct its wrong actions, move toward the same direction as the Chinese side, face problems directly, engage in frank dialogue, strengthen cooperation and manage differences on the basis of equality, mutual benefit and respect, the commerce ministry said.

Exactly how much Trump's trade war is going to cost all four national economies is uncertain but it is not unreasonable to start the count in the billions of dollars annually if the situation continues unchecked. If so this can be expected to knock percentage points of the Gross Domestic Product of Canada, Mexico and probably that of the national debt-ladened United States.

The implications for Australia are uncomfortable to say the least.

In the first instance because assurances appear to have been given to Canada and Mexico in 2024 that the US tariffs imposed on their goods & services in 2025 would not reach anywhere near 25 per cent and, Australia can no longer have confidence that the new tariff level discussed with it will be a low as promised.

In the second instance because there is no way that global trade will not experience some disruption as these tariffs are rolled out to more OECD countries during the coming months and, as Australia with an export market spanning at least 27 of the 38 countries in this category we have a potential risk exposure independent of whatever absurd import/export trade demands Trump decides to makes of us.

BACKGROUND

Financial Review 30 January 2025, p.19 excerpt:

US national debt is around $US30 trillion ($48 trillion), bringing annual interest costs for the government near $US1 trillion and helping tip the nation's budget into a $US1.8 trillion deficit in fiscal 2024.

Sovereign debt accelerated sharply following the COVID-19 pandemic. That has sparked wider market concerns about the sustainability of the US balance sheet and sent bond yields advancing since Trump's election win in November. The bond market reaction is a concerning sign, according to Mr Lamm, given the US Federal Reserve has already begun to cut rates.

"The bond market appears to be taking a cautious view on rising inflation risks and elevated US budget deficits into an environment where there remains a high degree of uncertainty regarding the ultimate form and impact of President Trump's economic policies."

Meanwhile, gold - traditionally perceived as a safe haven asset to ride out wider market volatility - rose more than 25 per cent last year, touching a record high of nearly $US2800 an ounce in October.

Its best year in more than a decade was attributed to strong demand from global central banks - particularly the People's Bank of China, which revealed last month that it had resumed buying gold in November after a six-month hiatus....

20 JANUARY 2025: The day the music died...

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibWJO02nNsY

For the second time, 78 year-old Donald John Trump will be inaugurated as president of the United States of America shortly after noon on a Monday, 20 January.

This 47th swearing-in ceremony of a president will begin shortly after 4am Sydney time tomorrow morning, Tuesday 21 January 2025.

This is unchartered territory for America, having recently elected as its president an individual with thirty-four felony convictions for fraud against his name for acts occurring during the 2016 presidential campaign and one who had fomented violent insurrection on Capitol Hill, Washington DC on 6 January 2021. 

It is also unchartered territory for America's trading partners and political allies, having to deal with a president and administration whose actions after 20 January 2025 the US Congress appears to have little to no ability or desire to mitigate or constrain.

To be continued......

TUESDAY 5th NOVEMBER 2025: It's all over bar the shouting. America has voted for its own demise as a world leader

pic.twitter.com/BYaIGGDHRC

— Justinian (@JustinianNews) November 6, 2024

Before midnight on Wednesday, 6 November 2024 in Australia, news out of America was that Donald John Trump, court declared rapist, convicted fraudster and national security risk, was set to be elected as the 47th U.S. president having been its 45th president from 2017 to 2021.

Trump aka 'Putin's Bitch' declared victory after he reached and past the 270 Electoral College votes required to be declared elected - depending on which U.S. news outlet one was viewing - by around 6pm AEDST.

At first, second and third glance Australia remains unimpressed by the man and the politician.

There were isolated but genuine expressions of pleasure from some international quarters.... 

Bridget Archer MP speaking in support of Motion seeking to bring Australian journalist & activist home: "For more than 4½ thousand days and counting, Julian Assange has not experienced true freedom. We're now just a week away from a decision on his final UK court appeal, where he faces up to 175 years in prison over 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse. We know that his life is at risk."

 

Hansard, Votes and Proceedings, Motions, Wednesday 14 February 2024:

Assange, Mr. Julian Paul

Mr WILKIE (Clark) (16:48): I move:

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following:

(1) the Member for Clark moving:

That this House:

(a) notes that:

(i) on 20 and 21 February 2024, the High Court of Justice in the United Kingdom will hold a hearing into whether Walkley Award winning journalist, Mr Julian Assange, can appeal against his extradition to the United States of America;

(ii) Mr Assange remains incarcerated in HMP Belmarsh in the UK, awaiting a decision on whether he can be extradited to the USA to face charges for material published in 2010, which revealed shocking evidence of misconduct by the USA; and

(iii) both the Australian Government and Opposition have publicly stated that this matter has gone on for too long; and

(b) underlines the importance of the UK and USA bringing the matter to a close so that Mr Assange can return home to his family in Australia.

(2) debate on the motion being limited to the mover, seconder and two other Members;

(3) speaking times being 10 minutes for the mover and five minutes for all other Members speaking;

(4) amendments to the motion not being permitted; and

(5) any variation to the arrangement being made only on a motion moved by a Minister.

The SPEAKER: Is the motion seconded?

Mr Josh Wilson: I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.....

(Speakers to the motion were Andrew Wilke MP Independent, Josh Wilson MP Labor Party, Bridget Archer MP Liberal Party and Adam Paul Bandt MP The Greens. All spoke in support of the motion) 

The House divided. [17:20]

(The Speaker—Hon. Milton Dick)

DIVISION: AYES 86 (44 majority) NOES 42 PAIRS 0

Right click on image to enlarge

Question agreed to.

Are multinational fossil fuel corporations leading Australian governments & regulators by the nose?

 

By the time Word War II drew to a close 77 years ago the world geopolitical map saw Australia identified not just as an existing state within the United Kingdom's wider economic zone, but as a prospective permanent political and economic client state of other Big Powers. Its natural resources to be harvested by fossil fuel corporations & extractive industries, exploited by foreign investors and its population a reliable supplier of future cannon fodder in support of their individual and sometimes joint global ambitions.

For her part, Australia would present as obligingly grateful for being treated as a commodity 'owned' by the wealthy top percentile of the northern hemisphere and the largest transnationals.

Nothing much appears to have changed since then…..

The Saturday Paper, 7 January 2023:

A United States congressional committee investigating fossil fuel disinformation has published internal documents on a major Australian fossil fuel project – described by energy multinational Chevron as “an Australian icon” – in what has become the investigation’s final publication before Republicans took control of congress on Tuesday.

The second and final memo, released by the US house oversight and reform committee, includes information from internal documents subpoenaed by the committee about Chevron’s plans to extract gas from its Gorgon project on Barrow Island, off the coast of Western Australia, beyond 2056. The committee included Gorgon as an example of how the industry is “doubling down on long-term fossil fuel investments” while publicly claiming that gas is “merely a ‘bridge fuel’ ” to cleaner energy in spite of scientists’ “significant concerns about continued reliance on natural gas in a warming climate”.

The committee released memos in September and December last year, alongside thousands of pages of internal documents subpoenaed from BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute. A sixth subpoena issued to the American Chamber of Commerce did not result in any documents being provided.

The two memos include references to the Australian activities of three of the four big oil companies it investigated – BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil – however, the December 2022 memo includes a particularly detailed focus on the Gorgon project, a joint venture led by Chevron, with partners including Shell and ExxonMobil.

According to the committee, the documents reveal that Chevron “is prepared to swoop in and expand its own fossil fuel business … even if other companies ultimately agree to reduce oil and gas production …”

In total, more than 200 of the 589 pages of Chevron documents published by the committee in December relate to Chevron’s operations in Australia, although many are covered almost completely by black boxes. The documents include a heavily redacted 179-page binder provided to Chevron board members visiting Australia and the Gorgon project in 2016, including details ranging from cultural advice on how to order a flat white to information on Chevron’s long-term ambitions for what it is describing as the “largest single-resource development in Australia’s history”.

According to the committee, internal documents shared with the board by then chief executive John S. Watson “emphasize” Chevron’s “long-term intentions for [Gorgon], despite climate concerns” and “the profits Chevron predicts it will reap”…...

Of the unredacted pages related to Chevron’s Gorgon trip, some are less pertinent than others. A cultural information section explains how light mocking should be considered “friendly banter” and not “an insult”. A rare unredacted section of the agenda shows the executives, directors and spouses were scheduled to receive a two-hour overview of Australian politics from Peter van Onselen, who is introduced as contributing editor at The Australian.

The December 2022 memo was not the first time the Gorgon project attracted the committee’s attention. Its September 2022 memo noted a carbon capture and storage facility at Gorgon that had “repeatedly failed to meet its storage target by about 50%” as an example of problems with that technology.

Another Australian example included in the December memo relates to BP’s strategies towards working with regulators here. A 2016 email from a BP executive to John Mingé, chairman and president of BP America, compares the company’s mindset in engaging with regulators in countries including Australia, the US and Germany.

The email describes how BP had gained an “advantaged position” with the regulator of its Australian oil refinery by engaging “proactively”. According to the internal memo, BP documents provided to the committee “show BP executives acknowledging that the company’s actions are often obstructionist towards the development of climate policy”.

Overall, the internal documents, along with further scientific sources cited by the memo, reveal that many of the public claims made by fossil fuel companies have been intentionally misleading.

As the committee’s then chair, Carolyn Maloney, said at a hearing in February: the investigation revealed that ExxonMobil scientists knew about the dangers of fossil fuels in 1978, and in the decades since, the fossil fuel industry has “waged a multimillion-dollar disinformation campaign” to prevent climate action, “all to protect its bottom line”…..

On December 25, journalist Amy Westervelt reported that, contrary to previous plans stated by the committee during its term, the December 9 memo may be the last document it publishes.

That same week, the new chair of the Democratic minority in the house oversight committee, Jamie Raskin, shared that he had been diagnosed with lymphoma.

The committee’s work being abruptly curtailed after only 18 months contrasts with the long-term time scales of the companies it is investigating, such as Chevron’s plans to secure profits beyond 2050. The Saturday Paper put a request for comment to Chevron but did not hear back before going to press.

Although the committee’s investigation is on hold, the US is significantly in front of Australia in its attempts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable.

Last month, Puerto Rico became the latest US jurisdiction to file climate accountability lawsuits against fossil fuel companies, joining dockets filed by seven US states and at least 35 municipal governments.

Puerto Rico – an unincorporated territory of the US in the Caribbean, where storms made worse by climate change have caused major recent disasters – is the first to use the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in its climate fraud case against Shell and other companies.

According to Wiles, it could be a “big loss” for these cases if the million pages held by the committee “never see the light of day”.

“The documents that have been released so far definitely provide new evidence on the side of the plaintiffs against the defendants.”

In Australia there are currently at least two court cases related to so-called greenwashing making their way through courts, including one case lodged by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility.

In 2022, two Australian regulators, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, announced plans to investigate greenwashing using existing laws.

Considering the memo’s revelation that BP has internally described its more proactive approach of working with regulators in Australia, it is unclear to what extent regulators alone can address the industry’s influence…..

BACKGROUND

North Coast Voices:

Friday, 6 January 2023

Global oil and gas industries make a combined US$4 billion in profit a day (or US$1 trillion annually) & have done so for the past 50 years. That obscene wealth is thought to be how these industries induce politicians & governments to only pay lip service

Monday, 2 January 2023

Who is undermining Australia’s climate change mitigation goals? Listing lobbyists contracted to act on behalf of fossil fuel industries

Australian Federal Election 2022: moment meant to boost the reputation of Morrison Government goes spectacularly pear-shaped. Again

 

https://www.sea.museum/explore/maritime-archaeology/deep-dive/finding-endeavour

In 1788 during the American War of Independence a British troop transport & prison ship believed to have once been styled His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour was deliberately sunk along with six other vessels across the outer entrance to Newport Harbour, in an attempt to stop America’s ally France from taking possession of the town during the Siege of Newport.

The graveyard of these wrecked ships were rediscovered in modern times and are now the subject of archeological investigation begun in 1993 on what is a complex site. The Australian National Maritime Museum has been part of on-site investigations for the last four years.

Approximately 15 per cent of one particular wreck is relatively intact while the remainder of that ship lies scattered across one section of the seabed to the north of Goat Island. It is now known as RI 2394 and is possibly Lieutenant (later Commander) James Cook's former command

 HMB Endeavour.

It appears that prior to being scuttled RI 2394 was stripped of all fixtures of value and thus has no clear identifying features remaining except for its now predominately disconnected broken timbers.

Part of what Australian authorities believe is James Cook’s famous vessel. IMAGE: ABC News

Pre-disturbance mapping of RI 2394
The Search for Capt. Cook's Endeavour in Newport Harbour
Dr. D.K. Abbass PhD in The Redwood Library & Athenæum
Magazine ETC., Winter 2019

To date RI 2394 has only been identified as "the most likely to be the Lord Sandwich ex Endeavour®".  A sufficient level of archeological findings has not yet been produced.

Nevertheless, the federal government owned Australian National Maritime Museum – one of the research partners in the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project apparently decided sometime between 1- 2 February 2022 to issue a media release which resulted in similarly worded articles being published online by the The Senior, Daily Liberal Leader, Shepperton News, U.K. Daily Mail, and Australian National Geographic on 3 February 2022.

Australian Community Media’s Daily Liberal Leader, 3 February 2022:

British explorer James Cook's ship Endeavour has been identified after languishing in US waters for more than two centuries.

Cook famously sailed the ship around the South Pacific before landing on the east coast of Australia in 1770.

Australian National Maritime Museum CEO Kevin Sumption announced that after a 22-year program of archival and archaeological research, "we can conclusively confirm that this is indeed the wreck of Cook's Endeavour".

"This is an important moment," he told reporters at National Maritime Museum in Sydney on Thursday.

"It is arguably one of the most important vessels in our maritime history."

The ship played an important role in exploration, astronomy and science and was an important artefact in the history of Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and now the US, he said.

A "preponderance of evidence" had led to the conclusion that an archaeological site known as RI2394 in Newport Harbour, Rhode Island, "does indeed comprise of the shipwreck of HM Bark Endeavour," he said.

Since 1999 maritime archaeologists have been investigating several 18^th century shipwrecks in a two square mile area of Newport Harbor, Rhode Island.

The Endeavour was scuttled there by the British 244 years ago and lay forgotten for more than two centuries.

Although only about 15 per cent of the vessel remains, several details on the wreck convinced archaeologists they had found Endeavour after matching structural details and the shape of the remains to those on 18th century plans of the ship.

Communications Minister Paul Fletcher applauded the discovery, saying it fulfilled the museum's mission to record and display the story of Australia's maritime heritage.

"What the museum has done ... over 20 years to verify the location of the vessel ... is of extraordinary importance", he said…… [my yellow highlighting]

However, this ‘historic’ co-announcement by the National Maritime Museum and the Morrison Government appears to be somewhat premature as I can find no published record of Mr. Sumption's confirmed discovery claim*, nor did he cite any publication date. It seems he was in something of a rush to inform the world. 

*It should be noted that in his LinkedIn entry Kevin Sumption lays no claim to having qualifications directly related to archeology or to having been employed as an archeologist. His skills lie in museum management, planning, projects & exhibitions. 

And then there is this......

STATEMENT FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - D.K. ABBASS PhD:

February 2, 2022

The Australian National Maritime Museum (ANMM) report that the Endeavour has been identified is premature. The Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project (RIMAP) is now and always has been the lead organization for the study in Newport harbor. The ANMM announcement today is a breach of the contract between RIMAP and the ANMM for the conduct of this research and how its results are to be shared with the public. What we see on the shipwreck site under study is consistent with what might be expected of the Endeavour, but there has been no indisputable data found to prove the site is that iconic vessel, and there are many unanswered questions that could overturn such an identification. When the study is done, RIMAP will post the legitimate report on its website at: www.rimap.org. Meanwhile, RIMAP recognizes the connection between Australian citizens of British descent and the Endeavour, but RIMAP's conclusions will be driven by proper scientific process and not Australian emotions or politics.

One can’t help but suspect that there is one particular person who will be disappointed in how the National Maritime Museum's announcement is going down.

That person is Liberal MP for Cook Scott Morrison, the well-known fan of all things 'Captain' Cook & Endeavour. 

Who it happens is also a prime minister in search of feelgood election campaign stories which might allow him to bathe momentarily in a little reflected glory. 

Now faced with the prospect that quite a few voters might believe that this particular 'historic' Endeavour announcement was a somewhat hysterical attempt on the part of PMO staff to present a different media narrative in order to paper over the very recent revelations that certain members of Morrison's own party see him as “a horrible, horrible person”, “just obsessed with petty political point scoring”, “a complete psycho”, “desperate and jealous”, and that “the mob have worked him out and think he’s a fraud”.

Quotes of the Week

"In an extraordinary diplomatic feat, Morrison has somehow managed to have China, France and the United States offside simultaneously. It’s an outstanding trifecta, when the Chinese refuse to talk to you, the American President thinks you are a boofhead and the French President calls you a liar." [ Journalist Niki Savva, The Sydney Morning Herald, 4 November 2021]

"He has sacrificed Australian honour, security and sovereignty. Now that is a shocking thing for an Australian Prime Minister to do." [Former Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Bligh Turnbull, ABC Radio National interview with Sabra Lane, 3 November 2021]

“If only we COULD move on from Morrison, the colossal hole he has created in our ability to defend ourselves in coming decades, or the damage done to our global reputation. His is shaping up as not merely the most corrupt government in federal history, but the most disastrous.”  [Crikey journalist Bernard Keane, on Twitter 4 November 2021]